Into the Wild
by dancingirl87
Summary: Team Arrow is on a mission to take down a ring of drug traffickers, and Felicity is concerned when Oliver doesn't seem to be affected by their Lian-Yu-like island setting. A very delayed entry into the Flash Fiction Prompts, using Prompt #1.


A very delayed entry into the first flash fiction prompt.

Note: I don't know when this takes place. Sometime towards the end of Season 1?

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><p>As they delve deeper into the forest, Felicity keeps sneaking hurried glances in Oliver's direction. He never looks ruffled, eyes focused, mouth pulled into a tight line. Always wearing that calm, collected Arrow-mask, but she's not sure how this can't be affecting him.<p>

They're basically on a Lian-Yu look-alike island, minus the torture and God knows what else happened while Oliver was stranded there, but really. She knows he can't sleep through the night without waking, gasping names and unintelligible words into the dark, so clearly he's still working through his issues.

She is the newest member of Team Arrow, as she's taken to calling it, much to Oliver and Diggle's chagrin, but she feels like she has a pretty good grasp on their team leader. She agrees with Digg's assessment that Oliver has a serious case of PTSD and in her research, returning to a similar environment can bring repressed memories and emotions to the surface or immerse the person in the past. She knows Oliver is one of the most controlled people she's ever met, but this island is just an explosion waiting to happen. And she doesn't want it to happen when they're threatened by gun-toting criminals who like to play with their food before eating it.

A sound comes from their right and Felicity freezes. They are not supposed to be remotely close to the drug base.

Oliver stops, muscles stilling, and signals to Digg in a complicated combination of sharp points, slices, and waves. She imagines him on Lian-Yu in a similar situation, trying to keep himself alive and her heart twists a little.

Because really. He did not get all those scars from scratching his mosquito bites too much.

Although Felicity prides herself on knowing 4 languages, including ASL, she has no idea what Digg and Oliver are communicating but she keeps quiet. For once. She would rather not be yanked out of the wilderness as the weakest link of the team. There has definitely been enough playing the helpless damsel in distress and she will not be reprising her role on this creepy island with a bunch of psychotic drug dealers.

Oliver turns bright blue eyes toward her. He touches his ear, gestures at hers, then meets Digg's eyes above her head. They nod at each other and she nods too. Although she's not sure what she's nodding about.

Diggle firmly grasps her forearm, pulling her away from Oliver and she instinctively opposes him, planting her feet. Oliver is a pretty introverted person, sharing next to nothing about the five years he was away with his team, and even less with the general public who swamped him upon his return, but she is sure that a return to this Godforsaken island and it's similarity to his own personal Hell is going to rear its ugly head at any given moment.

Especially if they split up.

Someone always dies when the heroes split up.

"Felicity," Diggle murmurs, keeping his voice low enough to be swallowed by the sticky island breeze. He inclines his head to the left, away from the sound. Oliver turns away, taking a step to the right.

Panic bubbles in her chest. They are deviating from the plan. Something is wrong. They are supposed to stay together. Make it to the camp. She will remotely deactivate their power source while Oliver and Digg go in and solve the problem. Get out. That's it.

A sound that she's not familiar with and not exactly proud of bubbles out of her and when Oliver's eyes meet hers this time, he seems to sense her fear.

He takes two steps back to where she stands frozen with Diggle. Places a gentle, yet heavy hand on her shoulder and meets her gaze. He doesn't say anything, but he doesn't need to. The heat of his hand on her shoulder feels like home. Like family.

She can see the confidence in his eyes. He is completely in the present, focused on their current mission and getting them all home. Safely.

She gives him a small smile, nods sharply, and she gets a twinge of his mouth in response. His hand falls from her shoulder and they part ways. Diggle leads her deeper into the trees on their left, while Oliver moves silently into the forest on their right. She's amazed at his super-ninja skills, but then remembers that this was his world for years. The thought makes her heart hurt because while these drug deals deserve to stay marooned on this remote island, Oliver Queen does not.

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><p>Later, once they are safely ensconced in the plane, Diggle in the cockpit, headed far away from the island, Felicity looks at Oliver. They are all dirty, worn out, exhausted, but Oliver looks more alert than Felicity feels. She can't help but wonder how he did it.<p>

He looks over at her, startled. "How did I do what?"

Dammit. That was not supposed to come out, but she goes with it because who knows. Maybe she will learn something new about Oliver Queen. "How were you able to be on that island without having crazy flashbacks to Lian-Yu? I mean, that place was terrible and we were only there for a few hours and I was already ready to leave, but I'm sure it was nothing compared to what you went through because no one died today, which is a great statistic, but I'm sure it reminded you of-" She forces herself to stop. Counts slowly to three. Is about to apologize when Oliver opens his mouth.

"There were- there was-" He stops. Takes a breath and she can see him mentally weighing each word before it comes out, eyes looking towards the window, but focused in the past. "On the island, there were days where I thought I wouldn't make it. Days where I wasn't sure I wanted to make it."

She bites her lip and reaches a hand out, covering his with hers. Her hand looks absurdly small compared to his, and it occurs to her that they are not the type of friends who hold hands, but the look on his face just breaks her and it's comfort as much for her as for him. His gaze moves to their joined hands, an expression she can't quite read playing across his face.

"Today. With Diggle, and with you there, it was different. It looked like Lian-Yu but I had both of you, my team, and I could focus on the mission, on why we were there. I didn't… I didn't want a team when I came back. I had this mission that I was going to carry out and in my mind, I was alone." His eyes are hard when they lift from their hands. "Always. But then Diggle came. And then I met you and-" He breaks off, blue eyes meeting blue.

Felicity stares at him because this is the most she's heard Oliver share about the island, well, _ever_, and she can't quite believe it's happening, but she stores everything he says for deconstructing later and focuses on being a supportive friend. The look in his eyes is like he's trying to say something he can't quite put into words.

"Oliver." Is she actually at a loss for words?

"And now we're a team," he finally says, filling the silence with more meaning than the words call for. And she knows what he means.

For Oliver, their 'team' doesn't just mean working together. This means more than that. Together they're a family.

And she feels like she's gotten a beautiful gift. She understands a little bit more of Oliver Queen and God help her if it doesn't make her falter on the precipice of caring about him more than she knows she should.

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><p>AN: This is my first foray into Arrow fanfic, although not into writing. I read a ton, both books and Arrow fanfic, and I'd like to spend more time writing, so I'm taking this opportunity to do so. Constructive comments/criticisms welcomed!


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